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Battle of Santiago de Cuba (1741)
|combatant2= Spain |commander1=Edward Vernon |commander2=Francisco de la Vega |strength1='Land:' 4,000Beatson, Robert. Naval and Military memoirs of Great Britain from 1727 to 1783, London, 1801, Vol. I, p 111. Sea: 9 ships of the line 12 frigates and other warships 40 transports and storeshipsBeatson, Memoirs, p.112. David Marley, Wars of the Americas; A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present, California, 1998, pp.259 |strength2='Land:' 950 Sea: unknown naval forces |casualties1=3445 killed, wounded or missingDavid Marley, Wars of the Americas; A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present, California, 1998, pp.259 |casualties2= 400 killed or wounded, 3 warships capturedBeatson, Robert. Naval and Military memoirs of Great Britain from 1727 to 1783, London, 1801, Vol. I, p 115. }} The Battle of Santiago de Cuba was fought on 21 July 1741, and was one of the most decisive engagements of the War of Jenkins' Ear. This expedition resulted in a failed British attempt to capture Santiago de Cuba and it aggravated the misfortunes of Admiral Sir Edward Vernon. Background In the year 1741, after an unsuccessful attempt had been made on Cartagena by Admiral Vernon, he directed the fragments of his sickly and dispirited followers against the Island of Cuba. The south and east of Cuba were so little populated, and so far from the capital, Havana, that they might have made a permanent establishment there.Pares, Richard. War and Trade in the West Indies, Oxford university press, 1936 ISBN 0-7146-1943-4, pp. 91-92. Vernon's expedition The land forces consisted of the remnants of the troops from Cartagena, some 3,000 British and North American colonial troopsCoxe, William. Memoirs of the kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon, Volume 3, London 1815, p.24 states that Havana is attacked by "...3,000 men, the discouraged and exhausted remnant of the troops which had been repulsed at Cartagena ..." augmented by 1,000 Jamaican blacks. Sir Vernon left Port Royal to capture Santiago de Cuba with the following ships:David Marley, Wars of the Americas; A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present, California, 1998, pp.259 80 (Flagship) 80 70 70 60 60 60 50 [[HMS Tyger (1647)|HMS Tiger]] 50 20 20 20 (Bomb vessel) (Fireship) (Fireship) (Fireship) (Sloop) (Sloop) (Hospital ship) (Hospital ship) HMS Pompey (Tender) 40 Transports bearing 4,000 troops under Wentworth The battle On the night of 4–5 August, the British Redcoats and a thousand black troops from Jamaica landed in three different beaches of the Guantanamo Bay. Without opposition, they marched against the village of La Catalina. However, the invaders, 65 miles short of their objective, slowed down three days later because of the growing concerns of their commander, Thomas Wentworth's. Santiago's Governor Francisco Caxigal de la Vega, garrison commander Carlos Riva Agüero, and local militia Captain Pedro Guerrero had only 350 regulars and 600 militia to hand and so retreated from the British. Nevertheless, Wentworth's army became paralyzed by fatigue and disease, spending the next four months encamped, being sporadically raided by Spanish guerrillas. Vernon, disgusted at his colleague's inactivity, but unwilling to risk any part of the fleet against the town sent warships to cruise independently until Wentworth's sick list grew so long—2,260 soldiers being struck with fever by 5 December—that the expedition was re-embarked, setting sail at dawn on 9 December and returning to Port Royal ten days later. Aftermath Admiral Vernon's enterprise accomplished nothing but the loss of many of his soldiers and his own disgrace. Vernon was forced to return to Britain in 1742 and was expelled from the navy in 1746.Thomas Coke pp 268 References Bibliography * Pares, Richard. War and Trade in the West Indies, Oxford university press, 1936 ISBN 0-7146-1943-4 * Richmond, H.W.. The Navy In the War of 1739-48, Vo; 1. Cambridge University Press, 1920. * David E. Marley, Wars of the Americas; A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present ABC-Clio Inc, 1998 ISBN 0-87436-837-5 * Beatson, Robert. Naval and Military memoirs of Great Britain from 1727 to 1783, London, Vol.I and Vol.III, 1801. * Coke, Thomas. A History of the West Indies: Containing the Natural, Civil and Ecclesiastical History of Each Island London, 1810. Category:Conflicts in 1741 Santiago de Cuba (1741) Santiago de Cuba (1741) Santiago de Cuba (1741) Category:Santiago de Cuba Category:Spanish colonial period of Cuba Category:18th century in Cuba Category:Guantanamo Bay